Computed tomography (CT) has become the method of choice for many routine clinical studies, which includes the study of calcified plaque regions and the CT reconstruction of a projection image from projection data of a calcified plaque volume. In at least one known scanning system using a CT, an x-ray source and a detector array rotate with a gantry within the imaging plane and around the object to be imaged, such as a patient, while the patient is moved through the gantry in a direction perpendicular to the imaging plane, resulting in a constantly changing angle at which the x-ray beam intersects the scanned object. The x-ray fan beam passing through the object is attenuated before it impinges upon the array of radiation detectors. In response, the radiation detectors each produce a signal having a magnitude dependent on the intensity of the attenuated beam. The attenuation measurements from all the detectors over the duration of the scan are acquired to produce a scan profile, or set of projection data. The set of projection data resulting from the fan beam can be analyzed to reconstruct images of the scanned object.
One method of reconstructing an image of a calcified plaque volume from a set of projection data is to apply a volume scoring algorithm to calculate the calcium lesion's volume. The process applied to the projection data includes the conversion of the attenuation measurements from the scan into integers called “CT numbers” or “Hounsfield Units” (HU), which are used to control the brightness of a corresponding pixel (a 2D picture element with an intensity value) on a cathode ray tube display.
A currently used volume scoring algorithm begins by defining a calcified voxel (a 3D picture element with an intensity value) by identifying those voxels within a region of interest, such as a patient's body, that have attenuation values greater than a specified intensity and connectivity criteria. The voxel volume is then obtained by multiplying the pixel area by the thickness of each scan slice. For scans with overlapped slices, the slice thickness is adjusted by the slice spacing. The calcium lesion's volume (calcified plaque volume) is then calculated by adding the volumes of the calcified voxel volumes. The volume score is then expressed in cm2 (cc) for each slice. By using voxel intensity and connectivity criteria, a volume score for the calcified plaque relating to a region of interest can be calculated. However, if the concentration of calcification within the lesion is not uniform, an error in the volume measurement will result.